A Very Useful Engine

It’s been awhile. Cameron is teaching us Russian Literature in between his conversations with NASA through the various telephones and remotes he seems to understand better than we do.

I can’t  think of where to begin with all of his new developments. He is a person now. A complete walking, talking (in a toddler sense), being. He is obstinent, tries to pull things over on us practically on an hourly basis, rules the world, and continues to capture the hearts of anyone who lays eyes on him. I fully expect a physical brawl someday at Publix as the employees battle out who gets to help us  to the car. Although his favorite employee usually is headed out with him before we’ve finished paying.

He continues to not be a big fan of TV, which is great, except for when his parents are contemplating the ethics of leaving the dogs in charge so they can escape the house and wouldn’t it be nice to have a ten minute foolproof distraction for the child. Sesame street, which used to hold his gnat-like attention span for 5-10 WHOLE MINUTES, lost its sheen, so Cameron changed the channel and discovered it. The Holy Land.

The Holy Land. Run by Himself. The Honorable. In Charge of Him. The Fantastical. Oh yes, every parent of every little boy knows who I am speaking of. Thomas. AND his friends. Oh yes, that’s right. THOMAS HAS FRIENDS. There’s 2. There’s 4. There’s 6. THERE’S 8!  8 GLORIOUS TRAIN FRIENDS. And New Year’s Eve, when Cameron was up EVERY 2 HOURS due to the two monster teeth he decided to grow, THAT DAY? Well, that night, as John and I were discussing a blood sworn oath of lifetime celibacy to prevent the possibility of ever creating another one of the teething monsters currently sucking the lifeblood out of us, I would have sold crack on the street for a Thomas Video.

Luckily Target was open. And they had a combo pack of Thomas DVDs. Three DVDs. A total of 345 minutes of The Island of Sodor, an island so fantastical I hardly dare utter it’s name for fear it might disappear. The cost was amazing. It averaged out to 3 cents a minute. 3 cents! I would have paid far, far more. Like his college savings. Which don’t actually exist yet. But you get the point.

An even after all that. 13 months of growing the first two teeth, followed by 24 hours growing the second, the screaming, crying, the fevers, the endless nights and days without sleep. He smiles. And laughs. And I have to resist the urge to have ten more like him.